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Hi guys the last few weeks my vectra has been turning over for about 15-20 secs before starting, then when It does there's a big cloud of smoke (only smoke on start up) if I were to turn the engine off a min after it's started it starts no problem but when left for a few hours it's the same again. Today tho it was left the normal 7am till 5pm tho it didn't even attempt to fire up. Ater a few tries you could here a clicking noise when trying to get it to turn over seemed like a dead battery but the lights were all still fine? Any ideas guys? First a cracked head, timing belt, water pump and now this and iv only had the car a month or 2. It's a 2007 1.9 cdti with 70000 miles. Thanks in advance.

Did you have the lights on whilst trying to start? Did they dim temporarily when you tried to start?
The starter uses a lot of current, if the lights don't dim it isn't drawing current, which is mostly likely to be a bad grounding strap between the engine and chassis. Given that it has been getting weaker it's probably that rather than the solenoid.

Bad earth makes the starter spin more slowly than it should so takes longer to build up compression and heat to start, when you turn off it starts again if you try quite soon because the engine is still hot enough.

Straps are about £5 to £10 in Halfords depending on length, or some people use a bit of welders earth wire.

Did you have the lights on whilst trying to start? Did they dim temporarily when you tried to start?
The starter uses a lot of current, if the lights don't dim it isn't drawing current, which is mostly likely to be a bad grounding strap between the engine and chassis. Given that it has been getting weaker it's probably that rather than the solenoid.

Bad earth makes the starter spin more slowly than it should so takes longer to build up compression and heat to start, when you turn off it starts again if you try quite soon because the engine is still hot enough.

Straps are about £5 to £10 in Halfords depending on length, or some people use a bit of welders earth wire.

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Cheers boater, turned everything off while I tried. had the battery tested today, he said its charging dead on and the battery's dead on, thinks it's maybe a dodgy starter motor. Is it handy enough to re earth It with the straps you talk off?

im not a diesel man but it could be a bad alternator thats why you have dimming lights or a bad battery.the starting issue could be a air leak or air in the system as diesels are a bugger to bleed .as theres no priming bulb or a lift pump i dont fink i could be rong tho. or could just be the battery .has it had a fuel filter changed before you got the car ?

im not a diesel man but it could be a bad alternator thats why you have dimming lights or a bad battery.the starting issue could be a air leak or air in the system as diesels are a bugger to bleed .as theres no priming bulb or a lift pump i dont fink i could be rong tho. or could just be the battery .has it had a fuel filter changed before you got the car ?

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He said the altornator was charging fine and the battery showed up fine when read by the volt metre mate. There's something in the engin bay on the drivers side, I'm near sure it's a priming bulb if that's what the wee pump thing is (tho it's not going hard when squeezed/pumped) I disconnected 1 off the terminals off the battery tonight so I'll see if that makes a difference when I try to start tomorrow (incase something's slowly draining the battery)

Hi, There is no priming bulb on these because they have an in-tank pump so as soon as you switch the ignition on the fuel system is primed, you need to have it put on diagnostics and look at the Ecu voltage when cold cranking, if voltage drops then the starter is knackered, have had a few with cold start problems that have been a faulty starter sucking all the life out the battery on a cold start leaving no power for the other systems (ecu,etc) to work.

Not had mine long (05 plate 85k) but the coil light comes on briefly but I allow about 10secs or so and a single pump of the throttle pedal before I turn mine over. Works better that starting the conventional way of jump in, light out and turn the key.